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Old 03-04-2022, 04:01 PM
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A discussion of the transporter and the perennial question: does this thing just kill and then clone you at the destination?


An interesting idea presented is that you're not really being deconstructed to your component atoms, you're transferred to another dimension and then transferred back to our dimension at the destination.



One annoying component of the whole debate is that people are always bringing up the Ship of Theseus. And the thing is that the Ship of Theseus doesn't equate to the transporter as well. The whole point is that the sailors ON the ship can take raw materials and convert it into replacement parts for the ship. Just like we can eat food and convert it into replacement cells. The transporter is NOT the ship of Theseus, everything happening to the transport subject is done by an external force.



So yeah, the transporter is a suicide box. Furthermore, it spits in the face of the concept of a "soul". Unless you're going to tell me that God is willing to transfer your soul into your transporter clone every time. Highly doubtful.



The last question is about the subject's awareness during transport. We've seen that from the subject's perspective it's just a bit of blue sparkles for a second before arriving at the destination. What are the odds that this other dimension that you're temporarily shifted to looks exactly like the annular confinement beam? Unless you're going to argue that the blue sparkles are the other dimension bleeding through. Which means that Federation transporters tap into a blue dimension, and Klingon transporters tap into a different orange dimension, etc.
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